Talordons
The Talordons is reptilian race living on the jungle planet Leopalit. Talordons are overall respected as very dangerous opponents for their immense strength and skills in fighting, and with the limited number of offworld Talordons they are intensively sought by many contractors as bodyguards and mercenaries. Appearance Talordons are tall lizard-like race, with an average height of six and half feet, a plate scales reaching from the tip of their snout to the base of long nimble tail, thick arms with four thin fingers and thick legs with round foots, which offers them to stand for long periods of time without tiring. They have wide-set eyes, which offers greater visual acuity and awareness of the surrounding, and massive jaws with many sharp teeth for tearing meat but also molars to grind the food. The color of the eyes are mostly shades of yellow or green, and their skin and scales ranges from red, orange and brown down to green. Black and dark blue are very rare, Biology Most of their weight are heavy bones, which are more thicker than of Hurons', and the muscles, which are strong enough to carry a double of their own weight, which is close to 260 kilograms. For their high resistance Talordons are believed to be able to live in high-gravity environments, but this was never observed for long periods of time. Previously Talordons were bipedal herbivores from who they inherited their wide-set eyes, two stomachs, legs and tail. However, when an asteroid crashed into Leopalit eight million years ago, most of the animals, Talordons included, survived the impact and it's aftermath, but large reserves of plants and flowers died. This lack of food forced the evolutionary jump, and Talordons became carnivores, hunting other animals. With this, their intelligence also evolved. When Leopalit healed itself and jungles and forests yet again covered all surface, Talordons returned to eating plants, but kept eating meat, making them in the end omnivores. As reptiles, they are not giving birth to living babies but lays eggs. However instead of laying at once a dozen like other lizards with only a few actually hatching, they will lay two or three and all would hatch. The babies are all shorter than one feet, they are deef but can already see. The mothers than keep them only at home, feeding them with a mix of meat, grass & leaves and mother's milk-like liquid which they exchanged from mouth to mouth, similar how some avians do. Talordons senses are keen, which helped them in the past to hunt their prey. Their sight is very sharp and sensitive to movement. When something in their wide sight range moves, they are immediately aware of it. Smell is also perfect, sensing various smells coming from great distances, and hearing just enough sensitive to hear any sound in twenty meters. The average lifespan is 150 Huron years, thought there are cases where a Talordon lived even for 230 years. The magic is not very common among Talordons like around Hurons, but are more resistant to it than Hurons, thought not as much as Candir. The Talordon DMUs are mostly Shamans, who are well-respected for their powers, which enables them to manipulate the nature, such as increase growth of plants, summoning rains or protecting a villages against strong winds or flooding. Mostly earth and water magic is controlled by shamans, the other kinds are eve more rare. History Talordons are known as very skilled warriors, but throughout their history there were only few large-scale wars. Most of the fights were between two territories, which ended quiet quickly, as neither was able to tire the other side. One of the major conflicts between many territories was the Kansan Wars. Kansan Wars One of the warlords on continent Kansan, Garrmond Arryi of Storming Valley, believed that he was chosen in prophecy to rule all Talordons and create a dynasty which will last for thousand years. Using his diplomatic skills and tactics. Garrmond took control of large areas, surpassing in size other territories. Kings and lords of the smaller territories allied themselves with Garrmond, forming a grand army, the largest formed to that time. Step by step, Arryi seized control over two fifths of the continent under his banner. However, on the other part of Kansan, the rulers of large territories, who refused to join Garrmond, dont believing him to be a chosen ruler, formed an alliance, which was smaller than Garrmond's but they had time to prepare the vast trenches and defensive lines across their borders and in their territories. The two blocks were sharing their borders, and the tensions between them rose sharply for years, with increased technological advance and military increasing. Till the cold war escalated into full-scale war. By Talordons, Kansan Wars were the largest and bloodiest conflict in their history, with hundreds of thousands causalities on both sides. The two large fronts smashed to each other, on few area gaining control one side, and in other losing territory. The alliance build a long line of fortress complexes and trenches, where most of their forces were holding the ground. Garrmond's forces were on the other hand well trained army, and both sides had invented artillery cannons, which were about to see their first action. The wars, as it was a series of wars between the two major factions and several smaller, which lasted for ten years. Considerable areas of the continent were devastated, the towns and cities by the borders were in ruins and one generation was killed or wounded in the war, but the wars ended after Garrmond's death. When the leader was dead, the smaller rulers quickly divided from the large kingdom, which was ruined without a strong ruler, and the war ended. Golden Age and Age of Cosmo After the Kansan Wars, the Talordons lived in peace and no other greater war started since. Slowly the race was prospering and technologically advancing through the "industrial revolution" and "atomic revolution", when some of the Talordon scientists started researching the galaxy and the option if there were other life forms in the galaxy. While met with refusal of the shamans and leaders who were strong believers of their religion, the scientists continued their research, launching first rockets with satellites, and than sending their own astronauts into space. The "Age of Cosmo" was started. Soon the Talordon territory rulers decided to start colonizing nearby planets and moons, and the first spacecrafts were constructed and send on suitable moons in their home system. While the speed of the spacecrafts was pretty slow, Talordons were patient, and after a year the first colonizations began. After a century since the first colonies were founded, Talordons were discovered by Zrillac. While the diplomacy was quite hard for the Talordon's tribal way of life, Zrillac managed to establish few trade agreements, one of them being the shipments of a Talordons' rare metals for Zrillac technologies, mainly for spaceships. With the more faster ship drives, Talordons were now able to be more in contact with their colonies and spread into nearby systems, but Talordons decided to spread slowly, and remained in their home star cluster. After Bazuur While Talordons are not affilated in any way to the incident on Bazuur, the event affected a Talordon exile Fafinder Rohh. Rohh met the survivors of Bazuur during the Siege of Phayboah, and seeing what Vuldak Empire was capable of he decided the Talordons would join the fight on side of Kasmari. Despite his exile from home territory, Fafinder's aspiration is to become Overking, or help another Talordon to achieve this position to unite Talordons under one banner and help Kasmari in their fight. Culture Talordons respects in their society strength, skills and knowledge of each individual. Initially each born Talordon don't belongs to any clan no matter if his parents are in the clan. Since childhood each Talordon is training and learning in the field they desire, and often compete with others in friendly manner to test who is better. More in Clans section. The romantic relationship and love are something what is thought serious among Talordons. Unlike Hurons, who are known to divorce a lot, Talordons are careful to find their true love and loyal to their partner. The two partners than lives until they die. Because the two Talordons are careful, in only rare circumstances one cheats on his partner. Otherwise they love each other till the end of their lives. One thing of the Talordons which was not viewed much is their opinion on relations between people of the same gender, mostly seen with Hurons. By Fafidner Rohh, Talordons are viewing the homosexual relationships as unnatural, with explanation that when two persons of the same gender are romantically engaged, they cant produce any children thus not fulfilling their part in "wheel of life". Their opinion on the children of these couples genetically engineered is not known, but it is presumed they do not approve it as well. As result of their religion, Talordons are very respectful towards their nature, and unlike other species, which are selfishly destroying the ecosystems of their planets by expansion of the cities and draining resources, Talordons are always looking on their surroundings and thinking before building new houses or mines. When Talordons need to build new structure in the city, but large ancient tree or other natural formation is in the way, they will either try to build it elsewhere, or adapt the structure to the surroundings, such as constructing the building on the rock, or partially inside, or around the tree, which will be inside the structure. Economy While Talordons are very small compared to other species, their control over their home star system and presence of rare minerals in the system makes them highly sought contractors. The demand for military armors Talordons produced from the rare metal they call "red iron", officially "leopalium" is enormous, and the price of them is very high, making only the richest able to buy them. For this reason Talordons gain a considerable wealth. The economy is maintained by each territory and clan. The trade with leopalium is made between the buyer and one territory. Thought there is nothing higher than rule of the territory, there exists a Council for External Trade, composed of representatives from all territories, where is decided with who the territories can trade and with who cant. This system makes some of the territories more wealthy than others, such as Red Iron Mountain, where the mountains there have massive deposits of leopalium. Clans When reaching adulthood, the Talordons are undergoing a rites where they are showing their skills, both by dueling with each other in combat, making a product from stone, wood, metal, cooking meal or proving their scientific researches. Each individual is proving himself to the clan he chose, which in return is judging applicant's performance. When there are more applicants, they are comparing them. In the end, when everyone showed their worth and the clans of the respective territory decided. the clans will tell their decision. If the clan leaders decide that the applicant is talented and can make the clan stronger, they will accept him. Those who werent chosen by any clan will have to train and try it for next year. When the new clan member is welcomed to the clan, he will gain his clan name and than teach others what he knew to strengthen the clan. Mostly family lines are remaining in one clan, it is not usual for a Talordon of parents from one clan become members of other clan. Known Talordon clans: * Clan Arryi - Located in Storming Valley territory on Kansan continent. Forming a bulk of the military of the territory, Arryi clan is respected, but feared for its straight-forward minding. Garrmond Arryi was member of this clan. *Clan Rohh - Located in Red Iron Mountain territory, Rohh clan is respected in the territory as capable warriors and strategists. Fafinder Rohh belonged there before his exile. Language Despite large number of territories and clans, all Talordons speak in one unified language they call Grahnn. Several of the Grahnn words and phrases are listed below. *Kran dor'rha - Rest in peace Talordon names are composed by the given name, clan name, tertitory name and who was their father (or mother). When Talordon is born, his parents gave him a name, but he is not a part of any clan, so than the name of his parent is applied to identify him. Also the child gains a name which tells where does he live, with childs where they were born. When Talordon reaches maturity and is accepted to the clan, he gains his surname after the clan. Mostly Talordons refer to themselves by their given and clan name, but official name is with addition of the name of the territory he/she live in, and the full name is with addition of the name of his parent. As with the case of Fafinder Rohh, his full name would be "Fafinder Rohh from Red Iron Mountains, son of Garran Rohh". Religion Something that is hardly believable by other species, Talordons are highly religious and their religion is affecting every aspect of their daily life. Talordons believes that there exists two powerful "deities" which they respect to no limits; Mother Earth and Father Sky. Mother Earth is embodiment of everything that is surrounding Talordons in physical realm and is part of nature, such as rocks, trees, grass or minerals. On the other hand, Father Sky represents the spiritual realm and things that cannot be "touched" by Talordons, such as air or skies. Mother Earth is recognized as "good", kind and gentle part of nature, which is helping Talordons and offers them space to live, while Father Sky is "evil", spiteful and arrogant, and while giving life to living beings in the form of air, he wants to ravage Talordons' lands and their souls. By Talordons, Mother Earth and Father Sky are constantly fighting, but neither can win and thus maintaining balance, Father Sky wants souls of Talordons, and Mother Earth is protecting them. Most of Talordons are praying to Mother Earth, asking her for good fortune or crops, for strength before battle or for good wealth of their children. Only a few are praying Father Sky, and while these are considered uncanny, they are not banished from society or proclaimed "heretics", but Father Sky's followers still live on the outskirt of society by their teachings. Talordons believes that if they will live peacefully and with honor, when they will die their soul will join with Mother Earth, as their body will decay and be absorbed into ground, thus to Mother Earth. However, when they will be committing acts without honor and respect to teachings of Mother Earth, his soul will be devoured by Father Sky where it will be trapped for eternity. This belief is switched to the one believed by Hurons, with "Heaven" being for good in the skies and "Hell" for damned being underground. The shamans, who are very knowladgeable of the religious texts, are conducting many ceremonies where they are reading the religious texts and blessing, such as when child is born, when reaching maturity, during wedding or when Talordon passes by, and many more, Talordons have many ceremonies. While recently with their first contact with the rest of the galaxy the Talordons found out that the "magic" conducted by shamans is a result of "tapping into magical energy" used by other DMU, they still believe that Talordon DMU's were "gifted their affinity by Mother Earth". With the first explorations into space and spacefaring, Talordons had to change their beliefs, but not too much. While they are aware of the physics of the universe and many planets, Talordons still believe in Mother Earth and Father Sky participating on Leopalit, now they just believe that both deities are everywhere they go, no matter the distance from Leopalit. Government The Talordon government is a variety of constitutional monarchy. There is no "global government" on Leopalit, but rather many territories each controlled by a monarch, most likely kings or lords, who have nearly absolute power over their dominion. The other element of the government is monarch's council, formed by heads of the clans or respected individuals from the clans like scientists or military officers. The new ruler can be elected by the council or selected by the previous ruler himself if he said so, mostly children, members of the family or students. The council exists to keep in line a monarch when he will make laws or decrees which are not for benefit of the territory and its citizens. Otherwise council serves only as advisors, giving the full power to the ruler. Below monarchs are clans which are controlling one city or several settlements. Each clan maintains its own customs, life-style, military training regime, rituals and holidays depending on their environment and the past. The leadership within clans is also differing, but the most common model is with one head of the clan, the most respected, knowledgeable and skilled Talordon within the clan. Then there are his deputies, some of them of military formations but the rest are civilians such as architects, chiefs of farming or mining or shamans. These can be replaced by the head of clan at any time, thought the others would be able to disagree the decision and remove from his offive. The shamans are than the ones who chose the candidate for new clan leader, and other deputies must agree with majority to accept the decision. Overking While the laws and traditions (with few exceptions) are different for most of territories, there exists one that is respected by all. The title of Overking, ruler of all Talordons. During the history only a handful of Ovekings emerged, but most of them died soon after, there was only one dynasty of three generations who held the title, grandfather earned the title, and his grandson lost it after his death. Nearly every Talordon kid hopes to become Overking, but only a handful are deemed fit. Unlike other titles which the ruler can give himself, title of Overking must be earned by completing three different objectives, which are very difficult, with each objective the difficulty rises. If the individual completes all three tasks, he earned the right to call himself Overking. The procedure begins with the Talordon who wish to try his luck. By the ancient rules, the individual can be literally anyone, male or female, warrior, worker or even unemployed. The law only states the participant must be adult. The participant must contact any shaman and inform him about his decision. The shaman then contacts the senior shamans from his territory, from participant's home territory (if that is different) and several from neighbor territories to form a jury. Then, they will bring a three sachets with ancient rocks upon which the assignment are inscribed. The participant will than randomly pick up one stone from the first sachet and shamans will give him the assignment. The assignments can range from killing one specific type of beast (from which he must take a piece to prove it) to bringing an artifact from dangerous places. After completing first assignment, participant will choose from second sachet and the same will repeat for third as well. When all three tasks were finished and shamans come to the agreement he fulfilled them, the Talordon is than proclaimed a new Overking. The Talordon will have to inscribe his name into sacred rock wall on Heavenly Mountain. Overking than has to call for all Talordons to join under his banner, and usually all territories will accept Overking's authority. While Overking has to respect the common laws of Talordons, he can literally make any rules he sees fit, thought like with the lower titles, he can ask his subordinates (kings and lords) for advice. Overking can make his offspring as a successor of title of Overking, who after his parent's death or abdication must prove himself by completing just one task of "path to Overking" ritual. If the Overking didnt appointed his successor and dies, the title looses its power and the empire is divided back into individual territories like before. Military See also: Talordon Home-Defense Military Each territory maintains its own military, which are trained specifically by their environment to be able to defend efficiently their home territory in case of invasion, thought they are still trained for combat in other environments. Thought several clans with different traditions are within the same military, they have to train by the same principles. And unlike in some other species, Talordons cant simply "skip" several ranks because their parents or members of family are high ranked. This same principle is applied to all other professions in Talordon society. As the military service is required among Talordons, everyone can help in the militia when enemy forces get too close to the settlements. Most of the families keeps at home small firearms, which they can carry on from their military service or passed down from their ancestors. This tactic and tradition makes the sieges of Talordon cities very difficult. For Talordons' military strength and training Vuldak Empire havent tried to invade Leopalit because of high probability of massive casualties. The basic military formations of the armies are packs, composed of about a dozen of soldiers, led by Pack Leader. Above them are company composed of several packs with Captain as the commanding officer. Several companies forms regiment with the commanding officers helding rank of Commander, who are under command of War Chief having under his command divisions. The highest military formation is army, which is commanded by Generals, and each army is being assigned to major fronts of the conflict. Generals are than obeying only the ruler of the territory, being it a King or Warlord, who have the final say in the war, thought most of the time he lets generals advice him in the planning. In case the ruler dont feels skilled enough or wants to attend other matters, he can assign one general to be the commander-in-chief of all forces in the theater or of whole conflict. With the start of era of space-faring the new "space navy" was added to the militaries of the largest and wealthiest territories who can afford the production and maintenance of the spaceships. Because of their small size, Talordons maintains only the ships of the size of cruisers, with only a few battleships belonging to the most strongest territories. Each fleet is controlled by one territory, although in the case of hostile attack on Leopalit the fleets and armies will be united under one command of the War Summit composed of all territories to lead the force of all Talordons in defense of their homeworld and colonies. Category:Canon Category:Races Category:Talordons